dream

The part where Courtenay stops running is a dream which begins while he is in the shop repairing old gas masks. & at the end he is in the same shop.

just an idea.

I never get sick of this movie. Thats because I did it. I quit hockey before the championship game and my team lost. (as intended)

The so- called "innovation" was actually done earlier in INVADERS FROM MARS where the boy jimmy hunt while running away from the flying saucer blast - flashes back the important moments - before he wakes up in bed then sees a real flying saucer - then the movie continues and he wakes up in bed again etc............

Tony Richardson made a whole movie out of that segment from INVADERS FROM MARS.
and did it so well we forget where he got that from.